An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospels Jesus Heals A Withered Hand

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And Lo, John did see that the other three Gospels already covered this miracle, so he chose to ignore it. The Synoptic Gospel accounts don’t vary too much for once. Matthew 12:9-14 Jesus goes into a synagogue where he meets a man with a withered hand. The man asks Jesus if he should heal him on the Sabbath out of worry that in doing so, Jesus might offend the law governing Pharisees who are present. Jesus has not actually agreed to heal the man at all, let alone on the Sabbath, but Jesus points out that men would help rescue a sheep from a deep ditch on the Sabbath, so why not heal a man on the Holy Saturday too? As it is a withered hand the man has presumably had for years, it could presumably have waited a day longer, but Jesus decides to act there and then. He has the man hold out the hand and heals it right away. The Pharisees witness the act, and slip outside of the synagogue to plot how they might destroy Jesus. Mark 3:1-6 A very similar account with the only major difference being that the Pharisees discus their murderous plans with followers of Herod too. Luke 6:6-11 Again, little different, though the Pharisees (joined by a general group of Scribes) have brought the man with the withered hand to the synagogue to see if Jesus would break the rules and perform a healing on a holy day. The story of the miracle seems quite tame. The important factors are 1/. The case for performing healing work on a holy day of rest. The healing is performed because it is needed, and the day becomes irrelevant. The passage marks the beginning of the separation of Christianity from Judaism, regarding the day of the week for the Sabbath. The other important plot twist is the beginning of the conspiracy that will eventually lead to the crucifixion. The villains are clearly recognized as such early on. Arthur Chappell